Arts
Dream team
Most artists begin an arena show with a bang: emerging from the floor, the gods, on a hoist, everything short…
Of mice and men
I’m listening to John Cleese talking to Justin Welby in the new series of The Archbishop Interviews when the thought…
Breaking the sound barrier
You’d have to have a heart of stone to not be moved by Name Me Lawand. It’s a documentary about…
Featherweight fun
‘Goodness Triumphant’ is the subtitle of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and you’d better believe he delivers. It’s the sweetest thing imaginable;…
Child’s play
One of the annoying things about too many contemporary museums is that, having ditched old-fashioned closely typed descriptive labels and…
Kabuki nights
Louise Levene on the Japanese art form you can now watch at home
An icy restraint
The world has seemed like a procession of deaths lately. Generally, of those in old age. Of all of them,…
Business as usual
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the fifth and final film in the franchise so it’s Harrison Ford’s…
A tale of two fortunes
Here’s a mystery for you. Why were Spoon, one of the most dynamic, sharpest rock bands in the world, playing…
Penalty points
James Graham’s entertaining new play looks at the England manager’s job. Everyone knows that coaching the national side is just…
A seasonal folly
As I sat down at this year’s Serpentine Pavilion, I overheard a curious exchange. ‘You mustn’t create art within art,’…
Time to start popping the pills
No one does agonising quite like Mobeen Azhar. In several BBC documentaries now, he’s set his face to pensive, gone…
The playful portraitist
In front of the banner advertising the RA Summer Exhibition, the swagger statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92) by Alfred…
Mysterious ways
The Chester Mystery Plays date back to the 13th century – but are more popular now than ever, finds Richard Bratby
Captivating marvels
It’s fascinating to hear that one of the greater theatre directors we have produced, Neil Armfield, is directing Anthony LaPaglia…
Children of the revolution
The three Just Stop Oil protestors were sitting in the stalls, somewhere near the middle of the front row. Someone…
Breaking the rules
Rules in art exist to be broken but it takes chutzpah, which could explain why so many rule-breakers in modern…
Short of sparkle
Having been unexpectedly delighted by the Royal Ballet’s revival of Christopher Wheeldon’s Corybantic Games at Covent Garden last week, I…
Downhill fast
I’m ideologically opposed to bicycles for all the obvious reasons: they don’t have lovely big nostrils which you can blow…
A tale of two troubadours
There are artists you go to see expecting to be challenged, surprised, even let down. And there are artists you…
Going viral
It’s the whodunnit – or whatdunnit – that has kept scientists, politicians, journalists and armchair sleuths speculating ever since the…
Not tuned in
When Winston Went to War with the Wireless is the clumsy and misleading title of a new play about John…
Fighting talk
It isn’t easy selling out Wembley Stadium with its capacity of between 70,000 and 90,000 (depending on the exact arrangement).…
